Art by Antipolygon for Unsplash
Use of illicit opiates has always posed great risk of addiction, harm and death within our neighborhoods. Today, the prevalence of the highly potent narcotic fentanyl is driving a nationwide overdose epidemic, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency.
As the City of Dallas readies to determine how to distribute its share of the multi-billion dollar settlement agreements made with Texas by opioid manufacturers and distributors, two Dallas City Council members, both of whom say they have personally known overdose victims, discuss the existing opioid crisis and tools they’re looking at to curtail risk of overdose deaths in their districts and across Dallas.
Council members Paula Blackmon D9 and Adam Bazaldua D7, who formed Dallas’ Fentanyl and Opioid Strike Force,spoke about it on the most recent Keeping it Real podcast with city manager T.C. Broadnax.
They point out that opiates are the class of drug most likely to cause overdose deaths.
Many overdose deaths in 2022 were attributed to the opioid fentanyl mixed with other illicit drugs including cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin, with many users unaware they were actually taking fentanyl, per the DEA. Only two milligrams of fentanyl is considered a potentially lethal dose, and it’s particularly dangerous for someone who does not have a tolerance to opioids.
Pharmaceutical fentanyl has legitimate medical uses, Bazaldua says, “but it is so strong that, literally, one pill can kill.”
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The strike force members agree that the “Just Say No” approach doesn’t work, and that the city needs to employ harm reduction tactics such as Narcan (a drug that reverses opioid effects) availability and testing strips, which flag fentanyl products.
“It’s more about mitigation. I don’t know that we’re ever going to see it go away completely,” Bazaldua says. “What what we can do is make sure that everyone’s educated on how prominent it is. From 2021 to 2022 statewide fentanyl usage increased by 89%, which is why it’s important to be proactive and aggressive addressing it.”
Blackmon said that in her East Dallas district alone, Narcan was administered 300 times last year. Citywide, Dallas Fire-Rescue paramedics administered just shy of 2,000 doses of Narcan, the task force reported. “This crisis does not discriminate,” she says. “We have seen the devastating consequences in all corners of our city.”
Before fentanyl test strips can become a viable tool, they have to become legal, another thing the strike force members say they are working toward.
The City of Dallas received $941,732.69 from the Opioid Abatement Trust Fund in early March. In May the Dallas City Council will vote on how to distribute the funds, which might be used to boost accessibility of Naloxone/Narcan; opioid screening and treatment services for pregnant women, infants, and others; funding and training for first responders; prevention and education campaigns and/or other tools.
Blackmon and Bazaldua, who hosted a forum last weekend on the topic, say they also are working to implement the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program, a federally funded initiative that tracks fentanyl overdoses.
Meanwhile, education is the first line of defense, Bazaldua says.
“The reality is, at a certain age, things are going to be experimented with. The idea that the only answer is to get illicit drug use completely out is just unrealistic. And if we spend all of our time and effort and resources in that regard, we’re gonna miss a lot of people along the way that we could have educated and helped.”
Blackmon adds that parents should talk to kids about all forms of substances and remind them that fentanyl could show upin a pill you think might be something else such as Xanax.
“I say to the parents, have that conversation today,” Blackmon says. “Because tomorrow is not guaranteed.”
The full podcast is available here.
